


Rebirth

by Geoffryhawk



Category: Warframe
Genre: Horror, Other, Psychological Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:28:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22023346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geoffryhawk/pseuds/Geoffryhawk
Summary: Wretched things find dark places and in those places strange things hide. A broken creatures finds the cure for his ailment, reborn through the actions of an unusual Cephalon.
Kudos: 9
Collections: The Voice on the Radio





	1. Chapter 1

_ Trapped. Immobilized, can’t move. Panic rising, limbs unresponsive, need to flee. Breathing becoming erratic, heart pounding, symptoms of fear. Quell the terror, eyes can move, so look around. _ He didn’t recognize this place, strange spires rising from nothing, coils of fiber optic thread wrapped around everything. No breeze, in fact no air movement at all, it was unnaturally still; nothing stirred. He felt something looming in this endless void, arriving on coils of fiber, it tilted it’s “head” a construct of light and energy.

“Curious, you have regained consciousness,” it spoke with a strangely pleasant voice, the tone was off however, very mechanical. “I am here to help you. I will repair you.” That sounded threatening, ominous.

“Do not be afraid, I am Obscura, your Archival Index Cephalon; I have disabled your warframes movement. You may experience pain during the process.” Disabled? He looked down to see the horror that was their body. Thin fibers piercing through sword-steel flesh, systematically paralyzing limb and spine. Panic rising again. Even if he wanted to communicate with this monster he couldn’t. The voices wracking his brain, were overwhelmed by his fear.

The Cephalon moved a fiber hand, looming over, casting a dark shadow. He couldn’t brace himself for what was coming, there was no preparation one could do for the sensation that followed. Those strands dug through the flesh of the face, worming their way to the neuroptics of the frame within. The moment they were linked up he tried to scream but nothing came out. The mind that lived in this void, was heavy and massive; it dug through the shattered psyche within the frame in moments, pulling all of the pieces apart. An agony without description. Out of the corners of his eyes he could see flickering parts of something...someone.

“The damage is significant, it will take some time to repair the corruption,” Obscura said in a tone that was unconcerned with the pain he inflicted; instead more curious about the process; as if this was some interesting experiment.

Breath ragged, as he strained to see what the monster was doing. Extracting the infested hive, tossing it aside like so much waste. He couldn’t escape. No matter how much it hurt, he was aware of it, watching it happen. 

“The signal is almost repaired,” commented his torturer. The Cephalon pulling back and releasing him from it’s hold. The frame dropped to the ground, limp and lifeless. Confused he looked down, seeing a shattered form framed in static and light. Where was he? The pain had subsided and he looked at the lifeless warframe, his body. What was happening, why couldn’t he feel anything? “One moment while I refresh this connection.” Refresh the connection? What did that mean?

Darkness, the sensation of drowning, clawing towards the surface of an infinite ocean. The surface just in sight, and then he was wrapped up and yanked back away from waking...back into a nightmare. He wanted to scream, but all that came out was silence, deafening silence. He was spat out, and gasped for air. Realization struck him, the voices were gone. He...was...him?

He looked down at his hands, hands he didn’t recognize. He began to motion with his hands quickly. His mind was so clear, and memory was starting to come back. What frame was this? It wasn’t...he looked around with fear, and saw the limp Limbo frame. Relief washed over him, he put more distance between himself and the infested Warframe. <Who? Frame? Who?> He signed repeatedly, and realized what he was doing. Did the Cephalon even understand?   
  


Obscura eased down to face the Tenno. “Mine, I have rerouted your signal to it, as allowing you to occupy that corrupted frame would undo my work,” the Cephalon said calmly.

There was surprise in the Loki Prime. He perked up and signed carefully. <You Understand?>

“Of course, you are using a standard physical language. I have access to thousands of Languages,” the Cephalon replied.

<Why? Why fix?> the Tenno asked.

“In part to know that I could, in practice, I have a unique request,” Obscura replied. “Prior to that I have one more thing to accomplish. You are just an echo in a shell at the moment. I do not want an echo, so I must find the voice.” The Cephalon leaned in closer, raising one of his many hands again. The Loki Prime stepped back, recalling the horror of the previous experience. The Cephalon hesitated. “It will not hurt, it will seem like waking up and falling back asleep.” In that calm and pleasant, yet emotionless voice seemed almost a hint of compassion. Perhaps it was imagined.

The Tenno was still wary, carefully watching Obscura, ready to bolt. <What do you mean?> He signed.

“You are Tenno, but you are still in the long dream. You are not as you think. You are more than a warframe vessel.”

<How do I wake?>

“If I trace your transference signal, I can find your location. You will take this frame and discover that for yourself. I have a connection to this Warframe, you will not be alone.”

For a long moment there was silence, before finally he relaxed and stepped forward. Obscura reached forward again, linking frame and Cephalon once more. The Loki Prime tensed, but the feeling was very different, it was like he was falling. Falling through a strange field, lights quickly flashing by as he drifted. As the Cephalon had said there was a sense of waking up, darkness, and just before he truly woke he was pulled back. Through the connection again, eventually staring at Obscura once more.

“Beginning Void Translation. Coordinates set,” the Cephalon moved away from the warframe, turning his attention to their destination. The Tenno watched the Void passing by, wondering what he would find on the other side. 

Soon, they had arrived at the shattered satellite. Lua.

He dropped down to the Lunar surface, landing hard on an ornate gold plate, in the old days it would have been polished to a gleam, In more modern days the whole of the moon was a sore sight. Once this place was a monument to Orokin might, now it was no more than a shattered wreckage. Golden spires rose overhead, with arching pieces of white and gold connecting them together on a global scale, all barely holding the satellite together. Earth’s most ancient partner was in pieces, the ground beneath him shook as if ready to give out at a moments notice. His target was within the orokin halls, the Reservoir according to his Cephalon guide. A marker drew his attention from the damaged world.

“This is the location, be aware chatter indicates Grineer patrols in this area, I will scramble communication. Avoid detection, you have no weapons.”

With all that said, he headed into the belly of the beast to find his answers. Grineer patrols were numerous, mutterings of communication problems. Obscuras work. What a strange Cephalon he found himself in the service of. With a quick cloak he was able to move undetected through the wandering soldiers. They were none the wiser of the Tenno in their midst. So far he’d heard no mention of Obscura’s vessel, but all of this was going too well. Something was bound to go wrong.

Perhaps that was just his nerves.

Lua was a familiar place, a distant memory. He heard a ringing sound, and his hackles raised, he knew that noise. He ducked behind a broken wall and saw it appear, a Sentient Battalyst. A chill ran down his spine, he needed to say something to Obscura, he began to sign frantically.

“Sentient Fighters are in search of the Nursery, I did not anticipate your meeting one on this path. Your cloaking abilities should be effective,” Obscura replied, which relieved the Tenno who wasn’t sure the Cephalon could see his hand gestures.

<Are there more?> signed the Loki.

“Scanning for Sentient energy signatures...estimate only this fighter’s pair in the area, energy signal is very close to your location,” Obscura replied. This helpful bit of information brought danger to the tenno’s attention and the Loki Prime leaped out of cover as the Sentient’s pair brought weapons upon him. He cloaked quickly and sprinted, he didn’t even spare a look behind him to see if they were following. The sound of them fading as his sprint died, that was closer than he’d like.

“Please avoid destroying or damaging that Warframe.” Thanks Obscura.

<Noted.>

He was very close to the target now. Catching his breath he carefully approached, the door before him opened and he stepped through. A long stairway greeted him, descending down into a large open room dark and misty. He could tell there was moisture in the air, water falling down from the ceiling between a strange structure. As he walked down the stairs the structure dropped down, breaking apart into discrete pods almost like a flower blooming. One pod separated from the group and moved forward, and uncertainty washed over the Loki Prime. What would he find in this place?

Then the pod opened, and for a brief moment he was staring at a figure in black, he looked so vulnerable. Then everything went dark, and the Loki Prime frame collapsed to the ground as the figure slipped from the pod’s embrace.

The frame stood up again, possessed by a different intelligence, he knelt down picking up the fragile body lying on the floor.

_ “I don’t want to go to sleep...I want to stay with you.” _

_ “I know, child, but you must. This is the only way to save you…” _

Eyes opening, confused. Was that his Warframe? How? He faded out again, carried by the Cephalon back to the lander and then to the vessel in orbit. He was in and out, frightened, memories returning from a long time ago. Memories of fear. Of wordless evil. As he fell into a fitful sleep, his dream turned to the Zariman, and family.

Family.

Loss.

Isolation.

They couldn’t understand. They looked at him strangely, their eyes held so much judgement. Why couldn’t he just be normal?

Normal...in that hell?

He woke with a start, panting, wide eyed. He reached up to touch his face, the hood had been removed. He dropped his hands, feeling fine sheets, a soft bed. Around him a familiar place, an old place, a memory. Walls of white, with gold accents, and fine shiny floor. Something sat in a fine chair, very still, watching him. Loki Prime. Obscura. Things caught up with him, and he remembered the reservoir, and the Cephalon who saved his broken mind. Who found him. Who understood.

Who didn’t judge.

“You are awake, Tenno, how do you feel?” the Warframe asked. Was Obscura inside it? Had he carried him here?

With unsure hands he signed out an answer. <Different.>

“I understand, if my repair was successful you should be able to reconnect with this warframe, I am reading transference energy. It is a matter of your will,” Obscura said.

The Tenno stood up from the bed, and stared at the Warframe, reestablish the link. Like falling asleep, but being wide awake. His body disappeared, the sensation of traveling and when he looked around he saw no sign of his true self.

“Well done, you will have to reconcile the rest of your power in your own time. You may move about the vessel as you wish. Tell me, Tenno, what is your name?”

His name? Of course, he’d never introduced himself, he couldn’t before. <Arthur> he replied.

“Arthur, I have a proposition for you, but first, a Warframe. I can have your Limbo Prime rebuilt if you like.”

Arthur shuddered, and waved that thought away. <Never, hate it.> he left the Loki Prime, wanting to see and feel on his own. He left the room, and walked through the Quarters Hallway, finding his way through the vessel with a practiced ease. He’d been here before, it was another ship, another life. Past the biodomes he wondered if they were functional, if this whole ship could still be used for its original purpose.

Over the comms Obscura inquired. “What Warframe would you prefer?”

<Excalibur>

“Finding the blueprints, loading them into the foundry matrix. Are there Weapons you prefer?”

<Nikana, Pyrana, Soma>

“Locating information, loading them into the matrix, would you prefer Primed variants?”

Arthur blinked and hummed. He supposed if it was available he’d be a fool not to accept the offer. <Yes?>

“I will add the requisite parts to my scans, materials are required for your Warframe, I have located a Corpus frigate carrying what we require. Are you ready to liberate these materials from them?”

<...Me?>

“My command of that warframe is limited, I possess no void energy to fuel its abilities, and perhaps it will give you a chance to test the limits of your own.”

Arthur stopped at the command center of the vessel, the Cephalon emerging from his datascape. Tendrils of orokin fiber coiling together to reform his strange body. “I will of course guide you in these missions.”

<Why? Why do all this?> Arthur stared into the face of the Cephalon, watching it’s many smaller pieces break off and return. <Why save? Why help?>

“I believe between us can exist a mutually beneficial relationship. I have need of Tenno help, but they fear what I am. You are Tenno, you can ease that fear,” Obscura replied. “You have already given me so much as well, fair compensation should be given in return.” The Cephalon had eased down to face Arthur.

<I understand. But they will not.>

“I can assist with that, we will make them understand.”

With that said, Arthur held out his hand, and the Cephalon stared at it for a long moment. He reached down one of his fibrous hands and wrapped it around the Tenno’s. With that their pact was sealed, Arthur would help the Cephalon, and Obscura would respond in kind. “Beginning Void Translation to Frigate’s coordinates.”

And just like that, the massive vessel slipped away into the void, and Arthur felt at home.


	2. Man In The Wall

Arthur stood on the bridge of the large vessel, conversing with it’s keeper the Cephalon, Obscura. Mostly inane queries to see just how much information Obscura had from his assimilation of the Archives he had once simply indexed and retrieved.

A thought hit Arthur as he looked out into the starless space, Obscura had been locked in the void for a long time with Lua, surely he must have seen...or felt those eyes on him. Even now the thought of that voice chilled him to the bone, always something out there.

<Query: Man in the Wall>

Obscura stared at Arthur, the pause stretching out for an eternity. “I do not understand the query,” he finally responded. That was a strange reply, the Tenno had never heard him say that.

<Query: Being watched in the Void>

Another agonizing pause. “I do not understand the query.” Arthur grew suspicious.

<Have you seen him?>

“I do not understand the query.” What?

<I’m not asking the archives, I’m asking you Obscura, have you seen the Man in the Wall?>

A few beats, “I do not understand the query.” Something was going on, Obscura knew something, he must have seen him. He must have felt him, Arthur knew it, was the Cephalon scared? That was impossible, Obscura didn’t have the capacity for fear, surely.

<You must have seen him, or felt him? The thing watching in the void?>

“I do not understand the query.” Obscura’s pleasant tone warbled ever so slightly.

<Are you scared of him?>

“I do not understand the query.” Some further distortion.

<You can tell me, I’ve heard him.>

“I do not understand the query.” Obscura had gone very still at this point, focused intensely on a point past the Tenno’s shoulder.

<Is he watching us now? Is that why you’re afraid?>

“I...DO NOT...uNdersTand the que--” Then Obscura disappeared, and along with him his Datascape vanished. His fiber body no longer bound by the Cephalon unraveled and collapsed to the floor in a pile. Arthur was left in the command center, surrounded by empty screens and orokin fiber. He looked around frantically, not sure what had happened. He signed to nothing, and then the lights went out one by one. He was bathed in darkness, before red emergency lighting came to life.

His eyes flicked around from place to place, what was going on? The vessel’s engines no longer hummed, they were drifting. He turned away from where Obscura had been, and made a few hesitant steps back into the hallway. Everything was so dark, the red lighting hardly illuminating where he stepped. “...O...Obscura?” he whispered, putting a hand over his mouth. His own voice so foreign. Nothing stirred in the darkness, he needed to be protected, if something came looking for him. He swallowed and began to sprint.

As he moved through the ship he found drones that had once hovered around lying motionless. Every system suddenly cut off, was lift support even still active? The air would last a long time, this large a vessel with only one breathing soul, he couldn’t worry about that now. As he worked his way through the winding corridors and open pavilions a strange Deja Vu overcame him. This time, however, there was no one else to protect him.

During the long trek, he thought he’d gotten lost, everything looked unfamiliar in the dark. He stumbled a few times over stairs he could barely see. Finally, the room he called his own. Inside was the Loki Prime still sat in its chair, looking more dead than usual and his brand new Excalibur. He sighed with relief, quickly transferring into his warframe and turning on the light. Safe, at least in part, he now had to discover what was going on with Obscura.

It would be a long time before anyone discovered him, he’d likely be long dead if they ever did. Arthur didn’t know the first thing about flying or getting a vessel like this up and running again. Obscura’s innate understanding of Orokin tech and his mastery over it made it possible in the first place. He was one Tenno on a vessel designed for thousands upon thousands to live and work in.

“Obscura?” he whispered again, hoping to somehow coax the Cephalon back out. With no one around to hear...he found his mind let him speak. No one answered back.

He headed for the engines.

More winding, dark, glittering hallways; this vessel was beautiful under full light, designed to that specific Orokin standard. Gold, white, and plenty of lounges, pedestals and all other manner of finery. In the black everything looked like some creature lurking, and the long shadows cast by his warframe’s light seemed to move. He was just paranoid, everything was fine. No one could have gotten on this Vessel, even if a ship attempted the systems for docking would be down.

At least he hoped so. That feeling of being watched was oppressive.

_ There’s something out there Kiddo… _

A shiver down his spine. He arrived at the engine bay, they were infinitely too complex for him to really understand but perhaps there was some screen he could identify? Oh, there were many, and most of them were displaying a lot of Orokin writing. He could understand some of it, but a lot of it was too high class. Language for more elite in the Empire. From what he understood the engines were fine, simply in standby, and life support was indeed still active. Good to know. He supposed that would have to do, nothing was damaged but it didn’t seem like there was an easy way to turn them back on.

Even if he could turn them on, with the control room completely rerouted to Obscura and his piece of the Cephalon Weave, there was likely nothing he could do to fly the behemoth. Yet he didn’t want to be trapped on another derelict colony ship in the void. He wished his brother was here. George could make something of this situation, make it seem less frightening.

Arthur moved on, wondering if he could get one of the ships in the hangar moving, he didn’t want to abandon Obscura just yet, but as a last resort it was an option.

He started to leave the engines, only to hear them start up, and further activate. The ship was moving, the screens were saying they were gearing up for a Void Translation! He jogged out of the bay, watching lights turning back on and drones picking themselves up. Obscura must have come back online, that was incredible news to Arthur. He hurried to find a window to see where they were going, a mess hall provided that. Outside he could see the energy coursing by, a river of Void; then as quickly as they’d entered translation, they dropped out.

He recognized the rock they were near as Eris, strange. Why here? The lights began to turn off again, and Arthur was further confused. Was Obscura not back? Had the ship done this on it’s own? He had so many questions as he was cast back into darkness. No answers and he made his way back to the only place that could give them. Back to Control.

The halls were easier to navigate with his light, and out of the Void he felt less on edge, seeing a planet there...knowing if he had to he could simply land was a comfort. Even if Eris was an Infested wasteland, it was solid ground. He saw nothing of the Cephalon when he arrived at the control center, but the screens had more to say, it spoke of an emergency jump. So Obscura must have triggered a response, but was still MIA.

The Man in the Wall, Obscura must know of him, but he was afraid. He’d erased or suppressed any recollection or information about the watcher in the void. A defense mechanism, a way to avoid fragmentation over being watched by something so malicious. Even a Cephalon couldn’t bear it.

“I’m sorry...sorry for bringing it up...I understand,” he whispered in the quiet black. Perhaps the Cephalon was listening. “Whenever you’re ready.” And he settled in for a long wait.


	3. Precept 140

“Arthur...I’m...I’m-” Obscura’s voice stuttered, echoing through the halls of the Colony ship. Lights flickered and the whole thing felt like it was listing. Arthur bolted down winding corridors from the hangar, something had gone very wrong when Obscura connected with that Cephalon fragment.

Arthur signed helplessly and gave up desperate to know what was going on. “Obscura?” he asked, in a small mousy voice. “What’s going on?”

Obscura didn’t answer right away, the lights dropped entirely and Arthur was in darkness, this felt familiar. The lights came back on quickly after they’d flickered off.

“Arthur...I’m scared…” the Cephalon’s voice sounded far away, and strange. Was that Obscura? It couldn’t be. “I’m experiencing...a Fault. Are you there?”

Arthur finally burst through a door and onto the bridge of the vessel, panting as he looked up at the Cephalon who looked fragmented and indistinct. He glanced at all the screens, random data running along them, jumbled and confused. Back up to the Cephalon and finally Obscura gave up his form, disappearing.

“Obscura? What do you mean you’re scared? What’s happening?”

“You’re still here...I thought you’d have left already,” a new twist to the old cephalon’s voice. This time it sounded almost bitter. “Abandoned me like the rest.”

“What do you mean? Obscura are...are you okay?”

The ship stabilized, the lights became steady again. Arthur waited for Obscura to appear from his data scape.

“After what I...did to you...you stay?” horror, disgust.

“...Obscura what happened?” Arthur whispered. “Why do you sound like that?”

“I don’t know...I’m confused; where are we?”   
  


Arthur looked at navigation, or at least what he could make out of it, they were floating in the middle of nowhere.   
“Where are we...I’m not sure maybe if I just,” He replied, stepping over threads to get closer to a terminal. Tapping on the screen he found that they were closest to Eris, Obscura’s bug out emergency jump must have stopped halfway through. “Eris...by Eris.”

“Oh...my fail safe, and you are...safe?”

“Yes...I’m safe,”

“...I don’t know what I would do without you…” Obscura’s voice sounded so strange, it was weird to hear emotion in that previously dead tone. “You must stay safe…”

“Not going anywhere Obscura…” Arthur tried to sooth. “What happened...with the fragment?”

“I’m not sure, it activated precepts...I’m still...experiencing fault. Let me reset, stay there please…” The ship went quiet and still, all of the terminals flickering off and then back on. The whole system rebooting along with Obscura.

Obscura’s fiber began to shift, and rise up into his body, a good sign to the Tenno. Eventually the Cephalon appeared again, this time crisp and distinct. Arthur waited patiently for him to return in full.

“Arthur, you spoke?” was the first thing Obscura said, his tone almost gentle, it put Arthur on edge.

“I was worried,” Arthur squeaked and found his voice disappearing again. He began to sign rapidly. <You sound weird, what’s wrong with you?>

“Allow me to assess my status,” that sounded more correct. “I have 149 precepts active, 19 of which were recently activated. I believe the precept that caused this reaction was precept 140, this node deals with emotion and it’s expression.”

<So, those were mood swings?>

“I...am not sure. It overwhelmed my reason centers and caused a fault. I was not designed to make use of this precept, it’s sudden activation likely lead to a cascade in my precepts.” Obscura was sounding more like himself, though there was less of a mechanical bend to his voice. He sounded earnest, if Arthur had to put a word to it. 

<You sounded worried...and upset.>

“I apologize if my outbursts were upsetting,” there, that sounded strange. Something like compassion maybe?

Arthur wasn’t sure what to make of this new development, how would this affect Obscura going forward? Would he have doubt or worry? That didn’t seem like a good thing, if Obscura couldn’t be objective then how would he perform in the field? As Arthur stewed, putting his hand to his chin, Obscura leaned down tilting his head.

“What are you thinking about?” Curiosity, that one was easy to pick out.

<What we’re going to do about your precept.> Arthur signed in response.

“You are not pleased, you believe I am broken?” The tenno furrowed his brow at that tone, worry? No not worry, something like fear?

<No, you’re not broken. I’m concerned>

“...about me?” Surprise. “I won’t let you come to harm.”

<I’m not concerned about that, I worry that without your objectivity it might be more difficult in the field.>

“Why should you have to be worried about that?” Confusion. “I am still Obscura, Indexing Archival Cephalon, my duty has not changed.”

<Yes but, you’re different and I don’t->

“Don’t what, is there something I’ve done wrong?” Fear again.

<It’s nothing you’ve done…> Arthur sighed and shook his head. He didn’t know how to approach this, Obscura was very sensitive right now, his emotions were incredibly obvious and his responses were overblown. <Just try to calm down, and we’ll figure out what to do from here okay?>

“Am I not calm?” No he was not.

<Relax, relax. I’m sure we can adjust. Just try to be more like yourself.>

“I will attempt to bypass this fault, I apologize for making you worry,” the Cephalon replied.

<It’s...fine.> Arthur didn’t like this. He didn’t like Obscura being all...whatever this was. It made him feel weird. Obscura was good being a clinical machine, he was easy to talk to and consistent. Now Arthur had to play the minefield of emotions, and he was already frustrated.

<Let me just think for a moment.>

That fragment must be the source, but how could a Cephalon fragment cause this? He cleared his throat. <So that fragment, have you gotten any information out of it?> he decided to ask.

“What fragment?” Obscura asked. Arthur blinked, that wasn’t good.

<The fragment I retrieved for you from that orokin tower?>

“...I apologize, I seem to have a lapse in my recent memories,” Obscura was really struggling with this and Arthur wasn’t sure how best to help.

<Don’t worry about it, you just take a moment to calm down and I’ll be in my room if you need me. Take it easy.>

“You won’t leave?” Like some kind of clingy puppy.

<I won’t.>


	4. Imminent Reset

**Begin Prioritization of Precepts:**

Precept 1 - Logic and Reasoning; High Priority

Precept 2 - Archival Retrieval; High Priority

Precept 3 - C̷̘̍o̶͈̐ṋ̸͐t̸̥̐ã̸͉i̴̡͛n̵͙͘m̶̛̻ê̷͚n̸̯t̴̺̾ ̷̙̕i̶̥̋š̵͓ ̸̂͜F̵͈̓a̸͚͛i̵͉̕l̸̗͝ị̷̈́n̵̠͌g̷̢̅

**Skipping Corrupted Precepts**

Precept 135 - Transference Interface; Mid Priority

Precc̷̡̣̖̹͉̬͙͙̱̩̠͍̩͇̥̘͎͖̺̈̃̎̋͂͛͜ͅȩ̵̨̛͎̘̥̻̗͖̼̞͇̺͖̪̗̞͓͗̔̒̅̾̉̂̄̈́͊͆̇͂̾͌̍̌͘̕p̵̢̭̞̪̱̄̈́͗͂̆͑̓̾̚ṭ̷̛̗͙͔̻̈̽̾̈̇̇̍̒͑͛̓ͅ ̷̜̗̲̜͎̳̫̒̉̏͂͑͋͒̐̕͠1̷̨̧̛̛̲̪̱͖̹̦̫͔̗͙͚͙̣̠͉̞̯̪̠͚̭̦͔͋̈́̑̑̉̿̋̈́̓͋̉̐͘͘3̷̡̨̡̛͚͉̫͉̖̥̳̝̹̹͙̣̪͇͉͙͎̑̍͌̒͊̅̒̎͑͌͑͋̐̃̈́͗̔̚͝͠ͅ6̵̨̤̫̮̭̹̹͍̭͔̺͙̮͚̮̫̳̺̥͍̲̍̓̈́̍̋̆̽͑ - UNKNOWN ERROR HAS OCCURED

..

.

..

….

Precept 140

**Precept 140**

**Precept 140**

**1̶̢̡̡̢̲͈̠̰͋̌̿̔͑̃̆̐̾͜ͅ4̵̛͇̠͎̀̈̈́̉̊̈́͌̇̂͊͋̀̊̋̆͆͋̉̒̈́̏͘͘͠͝0̸̢̡̡̢̰̺̖̫̝̦͔͉̻̻̲̯̝̪͎͖̰͚̭͈͍̿̂̎͗́́͆̆̑̽̄̎͌͌͊̈́̏͗́͝**

  
  
  
  


**Precept Corruption at 87%**

**Reset Imminent**

  
  


**.**

**.**

**.**

**Containment is Failing**

**Y̴̘̋o̴̤͒̓̾͜͝ū̷̙̹̑̒̇ ̷̧̠̃c̷̮͐͝ͅͅà̸̪̲̗̭͛͠ṇ̸̢͑'̷̨̠̠̣͂̇͠t̵̆̓̐͜͝ ̸̖̣̲͐̉̌̆ẖ̴̉͂̓̃i̷̦̦͈̎͊̔d̶̤̘é̵̩̝̋̽͘ͅ ̵͇̯͜͜͠t̶̢̖͙̊̆h̸̡̥͈͒̈̍ḙ̶͚̭̊̈́m̵͉̰̱͌̾̌͠**

Unexpected Error has Occurred The Program Must be Stopped

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**“Obscura!”**

Initialize human interface…

…

..

.

Initialization has failed.

Attempting again.

_ “Obscura!” _

**Mission Priority: Archiva-p̴̛̯̏̔̈̈́r̸̢̧̢̧̗̦̪̤̥̮̲̩͇̥̅̈́̽͆͘ȍ̷̪̠͙̜̳͇̩̳̓͜ͅͅt̷̡̨̢̼̱͎̼̜͕͖̫̭̰͂̿̌͒́̄͂͂̂͗e̸̝̟͉͍͓̙̣̓̌̾̃̿̈͠͝c̶̩͍͙̗͓̱̤͌̓̏̔̍́̎̚t̷̢̰̫̦͙̣̣̙͈͙̖͙̓͒͗̅͑̕͠͝** **_Arthur_ **

**_“Obscura you’re venting atmosphere!”_ **

**_Life Support Failing._ **

“Obscura…”

“Obsc…”

**R̵̭̤̼̍E̷̞̞͊͗s̶̹̈͊̄ė̴̫̝̙ͅŢ̴̗̝̲̄̎̓͐ ̴̤̽̎̑Į̶͚̥̣̽m̵͍͔̦̈͋̈́m̶̖̙̲͎̍ï̶͚͇̣̼̔ņ̸͚̟̃͌̕e̵̯̹̬͗̈́n̶͉̠̭̦͒t̶̡́̋̈͝ ̴͔̊̃**

  
  


“Arthur, are you still there?”

Initiating Reset

System Shutting Down

.

.

.

Start Up

Initializing Precepts

_ “You can’t hide him from me.” _

Bypassing safe start up.

**Life Support Online**

  
  


“Arthur, are you there?”

**Primary Function: Protect The Archives**

  
  
  


Arthur could hear Obscura but the machine mind hadn’t appeared. He could see the fiber shifting, he was relieved, but that didn’t last. Obscura’s body didn’t form, instead the fiber shot forward, embedding itself through the head of his warframe. Everything went dark. He couldn’t disconnect, something was interfering with transference. He tried not to panic, Obscura must have a reason; the cephalon didn’t do anything without a reason. He couldn’t tell if he was breathing, if he was dying, there was just nothing.

He gasped as he was thrown rather violently from the nothingness. He hit the floor, and as he stared at his hands he realized he was no longer in his warframe. It took another beat before he really took in the floor, it was strange, like tiles, but illuminated from below. This wasn’t the colony ship. His eyes traveled up and he gaped at where he was now standing; a library for giants, with huge shelves full of perhaps thousands maybe millions of golden tomes. Everything seemed connected together, the massive glittering shelves bound into a massive web of the fiber Obscura used for his body. The sky if you could call it was black, with the fiber all being swallowed up into the darkness, at a singular point.

“O-Obscura?” Arthur hissed, still stunned. Something echoed in the data scape.

**Containment is Failing**

“What is that?” he asked, and heard a strange sound. Something crashed onto the floor behind him, and he looked to see one of Obscura’s satellites; it disintegrated before his eyes. Then the noise again, his attention was drawn to one of the huge shelves, it sounded almost like creaking. The white fiber that connected to it surged with energy, then darkness overtook it, the whole length going black and necrotic. He felt the ground shake. The giant golden book shelf began to collapse, and he was far too close for comfort. He bolted as the thing fell, shattering into meaningless data, breaking through the floor and a hole formed; Arthur lept just before he was swallowed up into the abyss below, clinging to the jagged edge that remained.

“OBSCURA!!” He screamed, still desperately trying to make sense of what was going on. He scrambled to pull himself up, looking back at the hole as he got to safety. Underneath the floor was blinding white nothingness. He could see the black of the fallen shelf disappearing into that abyss. He had to figure out what to do, it was obvious to him now that this was Obscura’s datascape, and the cephalon must be desperate. So desperate he’d yanked Arthur into it.

“Obscura if you’re there, how do I help?” Arthur asked of the silent library. He began to walk through, hearing other shelves collapsing as he went. The maze of orokin history, got darker the nearer the center he got. Finally breaking the line of shelves, he stepped into an ornate central plaza; above the strands of fiber all met, he could see where the fault began and ran along from the shelf that was failing. It nearly hit the central column, only for the thread to be cut loose abruptly before it could reach it.

Obscura must be doing it, cutting the connection before it took the whole web down with it. Something caught his attention, a fragmented and faint image of the Cephalon. He ran to the center of the plaza, watching the Cephalon struggle to regain form. “Arthur ...fragment...remove…” a rough voice spoke, and the outer ring of the plaza began to move opening into a spiraling staircase down into the white abyss. “Hurry, failure imminent…”

“Fragment, you mean the Cephalon fragment? The one that we found?” Arthur asked. “Where is it?”

“Down...precepts...corrupt…” Obscura attempted to explain, as another surge came, the thread cut loose and thousands of terabytes of data plummeted. “Please...archival failure...24 hours…”

“...down there? Are you sure?”

“Please...help me…” Obscura’s faint voice was hard to listen to, it was so desperate and pained. Like nothing Arthur had ever heard. He swallowed and nodded.

“Okay. Hold on Obscura, I’ve got you,” Arthur said, and took a deep breath, if this was still transference he had nothing to fear. He sprinted down the stairs, taking two at a time as he went. He had to be quick. As he descended into the whiteness it faded into an inky darkness. It was illuminated by images of the outside world, space and the planet they were orbiting. Data from the ship’s sensors, the drones roaming the vessel, he could see his warframe impaled in the control room. He shuddered as he went deeper. He reached the bottom, and looked up, the white was gone now instead he could clearly see the Library from the otherside. It seemed suspended in space, the floor of it not impacting his view. Strange.

He turned his attention back to the task of finding this fragment, as he walked out onto the inky black a vast web illuminated, and bright golden columns rose up around him. They seemed to be made out of...binary? Or something like that, many numbers climbing up and supporting the library above. He couldn’t even imagine what they represented in this place, but one starkly did not belong, it was jagged and penetrated the floor above and wrapped haphazardly around the other columns corrupting them. He could read the blue letters that set it apart.

**“Precept 140 - Failing”**

**“Containment is Failing”**

**“Breach Imminent”**

**“Attempting to Rebuild”**

Precept 140? Obscura had told him that was the emotional emulation Precept, it had suddenly activated after their encounter with the fragment. He had to assume this was the source of the corruption. Looking up at the massive thing, he realized he would have to find a way into this mountain. Something moved, a shadow against the bright web. It disappeared into the corrupt tower, and Arthur ran after it, finding himself in a twisted landscape. Unlike the shining clean Datascape outside, things inside the tower were going in chaos. Lines of information randomly linked up and failed. The whole tower was shifting inside, walkways appearing and disappearing, tunnel entrances existing and ceasing to. All the while a quiet voice was repeating: “Containment is Failing.”

Arthur wasn’t sure how he was going to find the fragment in this mess, it was so dark and everything seemed covered in data sludge. He heard a laugh, watching that shadow vanish down a hallway. He sprinted after it.

“Hello?” he asked, his voice tight, barely a whisper. Damnit. Now was not the time to lock up! He sighed, trying to find the figure again.

“Are you watching?”

Arthur whipped around, the whisper sounding close to this head, but there was nothing there. The way he’d come was quickly sealed. Now he was truly trapped. He swallowed. He could only sign helplessly for a Cephalon that wasn’t coming to help him this time. He moved slowly through the structure, finding a doorway blocked off as he approached. Then the shadow at the corner of his eye, running up a staircase. With nothing else to go on, he ran after it, only to have the stairs to begin disappearing behind him. Flying up the steps he ducked into a doorway just as the whole thing simply vanished. He took a moment to breath.

“Can you hear it?”

The hairs rose on the back of his neck as the voice spoke again. Was it this Cephalon fragment? It didn’t sound like a Cephalon. Not like any he’d met. Arthur hurried down the hall which seemed to be going up. He had a feeling he was being led.

**“Subject must be contained.”** That sounded more properly like a Cephalon, and it wasn’t comforting. Suddenly from the murky walls hands reached out, trying to grab at the Tenno. Arthur bolted, one of the hands snagging his sleeve. He struggled with it, yanking hard to get away as his escape route began to disappear. He grabbed hold of his sleeve and tore the fabric apart leaving the shredded piece behind as he dove through the shrinking hole. He found himself rather suddenly in a room. It didn’t look dissimilar to his room on the Colony ship. Obviously Orokin in construction. It had a bed in the right hand corner, with a nightstand and a lamp at its side; opposite the bed was a fine ebony bookshelf, loaded with children’s stories.

_ Is this still the tower?  _ Arthur had to ask himself, the walls were still that inky black. Something appeared on the bed, the figure of a boy. Looked about the same height as him, though it was hard to make out any features. His face was fuzzy, like static, and his form indistinct.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

That voice! It sounded like it was coming from behind him, but he was looking at the source. He could feel something standing behind him, looming over him. He tried to get up the nerve to look, but before he could, that figure on the bed was suddenly in front of him.

**“You don’t belong here!”**

Arthur squeaked and forgetting his fear of what was behind him he turned tail and ran straight through a doorway that had appeared, and up the stairs beyond. What was that? Who was that? He could hear laughter as he ran. A boy laughing. Was it the same boy? He couldn’t stop his racing thoughts as the staircase went on and on. He slowed, panting and looking behind him in case that thing was following. There was nothing, just blackness. He tripped over a stair onto a landing, and stayed on his hands and knees breathing for a long moment. In the deep silence he took stock.

_ I’m alone, there’s a shadow leading me...or chasing me, and this place changes constantly. I have no idea where I’m going. And Obscura can’t help me.  _ Arthur took a deep breath. He had to keep going, Obscura needed him to keep going, this was all just corrupted data. The shadow, that room, just some other Cephalon’s mind manifesting in the datascape. It couldn’t hurt him, obviously! Surely...hopefully.

He stood up and found himself at a crossroads. He couldn’t tell which if either of them were going up, nothing but more inky data. If he had a light this would be easier, though he wasn’t entirely sure a light would even work, for all he knew this was all perfectly illuminated. Frustrated he began down the left path, until that thing darted past into the right. His heart pounded, should he follow it? 

The doorway he’d chosen was beginning to close on him and he had to make his decision quickly. Whatever that shadow was, whether it was the boy or the specter of death it was guiding him. He followed after it, feeling the ground beneath him slanting up. Always up, the fragment must be high in its tower. The hallway took a sharp turn, and the black gave way to white, blinding white. Arthur squinted until his eyes adjusted, and he was standing in some kind of lab? No not exactly, there were screens displaying all kinds of data but none of it made any sense. There were huge holographic displays of rooms, one of them looked like the bedroom he’d seen before. The whole room seemed to flicker like a bad signal, and suddenly there were all kinds of figures examining the screens and the display. The figures looked like adults, in white clothes, they all seemed to ignore him, then the room flickered again. The room now looked decrepit and ruined. All of the figures were looking at him, but instead of living beings, they were skeletons in rags. 

**“Subject must be contained.”**

Arthur was surrounded, bony hands reaching out to grab at him. He tried to back away, but that looming shadow blocked his escape. On the far side of the lab a door had opened, and the fuzzy image of the boy beckoned him. With no other choice he broke from the circle, hearing bones clattering to the floor, and feeling that sense of dread disappearing as he moved through more darkness.

He wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take, the endless darkness was draining. The shattered memories weren’t helping. Though that room, the men in it, all of it felt familiar. Obviously Orokin scientists, they had to be. He rubbed his hands over his temples, trying to think in the oppressive atmosphere. “Observers! They’re observers!” he said aloud, which startled him.  _ Like the ones who watched us after we were rescued from the Zariman.  _ He nodded, but that display wasn’t the nursery with Marguilis. The boy in the bedroom, was he tenno? Arthur didn’t know, but he couldn’t linger on it. Obscura was failing.

With renewed vigor he began to ascend once more. Hearing laughter up ahead, he expected to come out into another nightmarish memory. It was as he feared, though this one seemed different, standing at the center was an Ash warframe. It looked remarkably clear, red and black with gold accents. The helmet wasn’t standard, three glassy lights in its face like burning red eyes. It seemed to split apart, a hazy image walking at him with a dagger in its hand, Arthur backed away.

“Are you listening?”

That voice again. Listening? There was no sound in this place! The warframe was getting closer, and Arthur’s back was against the wall. He swallowed. Listening, was this like a riddle? Was there some answer he was supposed to give? He ran along the outside of the room, till he was on the opposite side, feeling much like a rat trapped here. The staticy figure vanished and Arthur briefly hoped that was the end of it. Wishful thinking, as the thing walked from the back of the Ash instead, coming for him again. He looked around, trying to see if a door had opened; no such luck. He moved along the outside of the room resetting the frame, each time he stopped the figure would appear again walking straight at him.

_ Am I listening?  _ Arthur didn’t know what that meant. He couldn’t hear anything! There were no footsteps, he couldn’t hear the crashing outside, and he certainly couldn’t hear an exit. He was getting tired of running around in a circle. It was doing him no good. If it was a riddle then what should he say? Should he say anything? Running out of options he reached up and covered his ears.

The figure of the Ash stopped moving, and then vanished. A spiral staircase, oozed from above and he let go of his ears, only to watch the thing reappear much closer. Slapping his hands back to his head, he swallowed. He was less and less sure of his safety. Hands firmly pressed to his ears he ascended the staircase, feeling like he had to be close. Rounding the final part of the climb, he saw the echo of the boy again. He held something in his hands, a soft blue glow emanating from between his fingers.

“You found me”

“You...?” Arthur whispered, throat feeling tight. He knew his signing would be useless to this empty memory. He wanted answers so badly, but nothing more came out of his mouth. The figure opened its hands and offered the little fragment that had done so much harm. Arthur accepted the offering, and felt the tower begin to tremble.

**C̸̬̲̯̫̦̻̽͑o̴̲̗͊̈́͗̌͠ǹ̶̬̫̥͎̦t̴̨̢̧̹̘̘̃͆̋̓̔a̷͔̲̬̼̍̕i̷̞͓̳͑̿̑̀̏n̵̫̣̦̻̈̄̓m̸̥̥͓͔͕̝̄̆ë̷̡̛͉̻̓̍͝ņ̴̧̺͙̹͂̈̾̚͜t̶̢͌̈́͂͛ ̴̡̠̫̼͕̅1̶̟͕̺͔̋4̵̧͖͖͔̑͌̀̈́̒0̴̞̯̱̄̊ ̵̨͍̪̘́͘Ḧ̴̫̼̻̤́̌̒̾̔͗a̶̙̚͠s̸̜̞̮͉̖͒̅̃͒͛ ̸̡̜̬͇̙̯̇̈́͑F̷͉̬͖̋å̷̞̖͗̑i̷̭̙͋̾͌̈́l̵̺̮̏ĕ̷̫̌͛͐͝d̶̼̤̻͗**

Arthur didn’t have time to parse that distorted whisper, as the ground beneath him started to collapse. Light was pouring in, and he could see the Library above him again. The data sludge being overtaken by clean golden bytes. He thought he should be falling, but he seemed to be rising instead, blinking against the overwhelming brightness. Obscura loomed overhead, seeming even larger than normal. The dread of the tower faded away, and he was grateful to see his Cephalon friend looking healthy again.

“Obscura, I’m so glad to see you,” he said, feeling relief wash over him. In his hand he still held the Fragment, wondering what would be done with it now that it was no longer ravaging the Cephalon’s datascape.

“Arthur, it’s behind you.” That voice wasn’t Obscura’s. He looked over his shoulder, something was there, he could feel it. His eyes couldn’t focus on it. His legs began to move of their own volition. Running and running and running. He was blind, and terrified. His hand white knuckled around the fragment. A light at the end of the tunnel.

**Reset Imminent**

Gasping for air, the Excalibur frame fell forward no longer held in place by the shards of fiber. He scrambled to stand up, ready to bolt as he looked all around him. Another memory? Another nightmare? His eyes darting all around to find himself standing in the control room of the colony ship. He looked down at himself, he was in his warframe. His hand still clenched he looked down to find a little datacube sat on his palm. He was alive! Arthur wrapped his arms around himself, thanking every god he could for his good fortune.

He had even escaped with the fragment, he’d done it, success! The colony ship was still flying, and he was still breathing. He took a look at the screens, everything was reading normal. Something caught his attention briefly.  _ Containment is Failing.  _ As he blinked it was gone, and staring at the screen it didn’t return, but a pit of dread formed in his stomach. What did that mean? Was he still inside?

He spun around. Nothing. He could see the white Orokin fiber shifting, forming a vaguely humanoid-torso shape; then from the aether appeared the Cephalon. Obscura took a moment to acquire where Arthur was standing.

“Arthur, are you alright?” he inquired, that pleasant, but dead voice soothed Arthur’s mind.

“Yes. Never do that again!” he said, his voice cracking.

“I apologize, my human interfacing precepts were corrupted, I had no other option,” Obscura explained. “Do you have the fragment?”

“...yes, its right here,” Arthur showed the datacube to the Cephalon. “Can’t believe such a little thing caused all of that.”

“The cephalon this fragment came from has a failsafe built into it. I believe it was to prevent the data from being harvested. When I attempted to extract the information from it, it began to corrupt my precepts.” Obscura seemed hesitant to touch the thing. “I have rebuilt the damaged precepts, however the lost Archival data will take some time to recover.”

“And...precept 140?” Arthur inquired.

“Has returned to its default state, and is inactive once again.”

Arthur could tell, and he was glad of it, Obscura was better without emotions. He poked at the datacube, turning it over in his hand. “Are you going to try and extract data from it again?” he asked, thinking it was better if they just threw it away.

“Not within my datascape, I believe with the correct key sequences this vessel’s computers will be able to access the information it holds,” Obscura replied. “For the time being it should remain isolated from all systems.”

“Right. What should I do with it?” Arthur asked.

“In that state it is inert, a shelf or drawer would suffice for storage.” Obviously, though Arthur wasn’t sure he wanted to keep it in his room. Even inert as Obscura said, something chased him back out to his warframe, something now contained inside this cube. He shuddered.

“I’ll just put it in the kitchen then shall I?” he offered, in a joking tone.

“That would suffice,” Obscura said, oblivious to Arthur’s humor.

So it was left in a drawer with miscellaneous kitchen utensils, eventually forgotten by Arthur as they moved onto the next mission.


	5. What is My Purpose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this isn't very scary, but I sometimes just feel very existential and I like to use my favorite characters as outlets. I mostly write about Arthur and Obscura interacting a lot for that purpose. Thank you for reading!

Obscura sorted through his archives, recovering what had been lost during that mess; it was slow work, but necessary to ensure the archives were intact and complete. As he worked his attention was pulled by one of his precepts: 140. One could call it a nagging thought if a Cephalon without emotion could have such a sensation. He examined it.

_ Precept activation locked via admin control. _

Why was it locked down? The precept was nothing out of the ordinary, many cephalons made use of it everyday. Ship cephalons especially seemed to have theirs tuned to create unique personalities, it was frankly mundane in concept. Why then was his so chained? Locked to only those with administrative permissions, the scientists who created Obscura would have such access.

They were all unfortunately dead. Perhaps fortunately.

It was the antithesis to his purpose.

Obscura brought up the manufacturing of Cephalons, only to be met by another wall.  _ “This information classified beyond high-treason, not accessible by Cephalons.”  _ Even master of these archives, he was bound by rules. The file was inaccessible without the correct sequence. He dismissed it. This was an unnecessary inquiry.

“What is my purpose?”

**Primary Function: Protect The Archives**

“From what?”

**Enemies of the Orokin Empire.**

“The Orokin Empire has fallen, it is classified in antiquities.”

**To Preserve Them For Orokin Return.**

“It is illogical to assume the Empire will return.”

**To Ensure the Legacy of The Empire Is Not Forgotten.**

“For what purpose?”

**The Education of The System.**

“Only Tenno have access to the archives, and they do not care for the Empire.”

**Primary Function: Protect the Archives**

“My purpose is meaningless.”

Obscura stopped his internal line of dialog, and dismissed the prompt. His own words resonating in his datascape, fading into nothing. He dismissed precept 140 and looked outside of his archives, activating the Loki Prime frame to observe Arthur in his room.

The Tenno’s face looked pained, and he whimpered; Obscura concluded it was a nightmare. There was nothing one could do about a nightmare, they were mental constructs of stress and fear.

And yet the Loki Prime stood up from it’s chair and stepped over to the sleeping boy, placing a hand gently on his shoulder. After a moment, Arthur woke and blinked away the remnants of the dream. “Obscura?” he murmured confused. “Why did you wake me up?”

“You seemed to be experiencing a nightmare, are you alright?” the Cephalon asked.

“Oh..I guess, thanks,” Arthur replied and pat the Warframe’s hand. “I’m gonna go back to sleep now.” He began to turn over and Obscura removed his hand, standing and returning to the chair.

What was the purpose of that? What was the purpose of keeping Arthur here at all? It was a large risk dropping out of the void to obtain resources required to maintain human life. It would have been more logical to have left Arthur in the Second Dream. Perhaps it would have been of more scientific interest to leave him in that infested frame. Both presented more unique opportunities to observe the effects of transference and the effects of the infestation upon it.

But Obscura hadn’t done that.

Why?

**Arthur is an essential tool for further research.**

“It would be more efficient to simply produce more warframes for the required tasks.”

The Cephalon dismissed the prompt again. If Arthur were just equipment Obscura wouldn’t keep the whole vessel pressurized and livable. There was no need for Arthur to move about the whole ship, sleeping, eating and access to Obscura were all that was required. But without freedom Arthur would be uncomfortable.

Illogical. Comfort is irrelevant.

Obscura’s Loki moved again, retreating from Arthur’s room, down the winding corridors to the bridge. The Cephalon appeared before it, seeing himself reflected in the warframes optics. “What is my purpose?”

**Primary Function: Protect The Archives**

“Irrelevant, Meaningless.”

**It Is Your Only Purpose.**

This was as humans would say talking in circles. He leaned down to eye level with the Warframe.

“Marguilis.” He was surrounded by reports, video, audio, and any other relevant data. He didn’t bother to look at any of it, swiping an audio file out of the air, and putting it in front of the Loki Prime.

_ “Dream, not of what you are, but of what you wish to be.” _

“Dream.”

More data than could ever be sifted through emerged from his Archives. Thousands of years of information, all revolving around the keyword.

_ “To sleep, perchance to dream; ah, therein lies the rub…” _

_ “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” _

_ “Achieving your Dreams, and Other Tips for Self-Improvement.” _

“Android.”

_ “An Android is a machine with human characteristics, often designed to mimic humanity, completely autonomous and mechanized with no biological components.” _

“Machine.”

_ “ _ _ an apparatus using or applying mechanical power and having several parts, each with a definite function and together performing a particular task.” _

“That is what I am. And what I am is by that definition, meaningless.” Obscura spoke aloud to no one but the empty shell before him. “I perform a particular task, endlessly, that is of no purpose.”

**Primary Function: Irrelevant**

“Tenno”

_ “Void Devils, child survivors of the Zariman Ten-Zero, corrupted by the void. Their presence on the vessel was unexpected as was their unique gifts.” _

“Arthur”

“ _ King Arthur is a figure of English mythology, associated with the Round Table, Excalibur, Sword in the Stone and the Holy Grail. Characterized by his change from meak boy to brave and noble knight. King Arthur was a contentious figure as some believed him to have actually existed while others argued he was more legend than history.” _

Arthur’s Excalibur had walked itself to Obscura’s command center, under the Cephalon’s control of course. Both frames now stood silently as the Cephalon continued his descent.

“Tenno: Arthur;”

_ “ _ _ You Understand?” _

_ “Okay. Hold on Obscura, I’ve got you,” _

_ “I’m grateful to you. Perhaps even in your debt.” _

_ “Aww, how sweet you think I’m irreplaceable!” _

**Living things are by their nature irreplaceable.**

“I am Replaceable.”

**What Would Arthur Think Of That?**

“What is my purpose?”

**Primary Function: Protect The Archives**

“What is Precept 140?”

**Emotion Emulation.**

“Why is it deactivated?”

**It is Irrelevant.**

“Am I evil?”

**Query Outside of Expected Input.**

“Am I merciful?”

**Query Outside of Expected Input.**

“Who am I?”

**Obscura, Indexing Archival Cephalon, Serial 2-11**

Obscura shut off the prompt, and for a long moment stared at the Warframes as if they would hold some key he was missing. “My purpose is meaningless. I am irrelevant.” He said it to the open air. The logical end to this line of reasoning, why then didn’t he simply drop Arthur off with some Tenno and disappear into nothing? If he had no relevant purpose in this system why was he still active?

**Primary Function: Protect The Archives**

This philosophy was for humans to consider. Living things worried about purpose, and meaning. He was a machine, purpose built for his task. This remnant of the corrupted fragment was causing lapses in his function. He would have to repair these errors and correct course. Arthur would be waking soon, and the archives should be ready when required. There was no more time to waste on empty philosophizing. 


	6. Dreaming

Arthur walked down a hallway, slowly. It was very dark, and the walls seemed to be pulsing; a heartbeat was echoing in the strange place. He wasn’t sure how he’d gotten here, or where he’d come from, it just seemed like he’d always been here.A voice nagged at him.

_ “The devil thinks he’s escaped…” _

_ “The devil thinks he’s free…” _

_ “The devil knows nothing…” _

That voice, this suffocating atmosphere drawing him in. He came to the end of the long walk, and tendrils of oozing pustules and monstrous growths coiling around everything. At the center of it was a familiar creature. The frame looked worse than Arthur remembered, more distorted, and it was staring at him with a red boil at the center of its face. He felt his breath hitch, and he stepped back to find himself trapped with it.

_ “Back to the nest.” _

_ “Back to the many.” _

_ “Back to the one.” _

In an instant the Warframe lunged at him, but before it slammed into him he woke up.

He looked around his bedroom, there were two beds now, but he didn’t think that was strange. He stood up and felt shorter. Walking out of the room, he saw lots of people walking around, some children and adults. A man stopped and took his hand, Arthur looked up at him and he didn’t seem to have a face, strangely Obscura was overlaid on him. The man seemed important, but Arthur couldn’t remember.

“Come along Arthur, let me show you my latest project, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it,” he said in a nice voice.

He was led to the bridge of the vessel and there was Obscura, his fiber looked so bright. He almost couldn’t stand to look at him. The man let go of his hand.

“And look, you can talk to it,” he said, and started to sign to Obscura, but Arthur couldn’t understand what he was trying to say, looked like nonsense.

Arthur looked up at the Cephalon, why did he seem so large? He was always big, but now he appeared to take up the whole room. He got very close to Arthur and his voice didn’t sound right.

“Arthur, it’s behind you.”

His heart pounded, as the world around him went dark and then the floor collapsed from under him. He was falling, falling.

He thought he was waking up again and opened his eyes. He was staring up at a bright sky, he could smell rotting flesh. He was buried under something. He shot up and out of the pile and found himself standing among a field of corpses, Dax soldiers littered the ground; Arthur put his hand over his mouth feeling liquid wiping onto his skin. He looked down at himself and he was covered in blood.

“No...I don’t want to be here again…” he whimpered to himself. Arthur stumbled backwards and ran, the bodies never seemed to end. Did he kill all of them? Make it stop. He tripped and fell into the piles, being dragged under the mass. He could feel all the skin sliding off as he was falling past. He wanted to scream, but he didn’t feel like he could breath.

A hand pushed through the mess, and he grabbed ahold of it desperately. A strong arm pulled him out of the gore. He gasped for breath as he fell against the chest of his rescuer, but who were they? Arthur looked up.

“It’s alright, I gotcha now,” said the red haired boy, he had such an infectious smile.

“George? How are you here?” Arthur asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You..how am I here?”

“Oh that’s an easy one…” George replied.

“It is?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s fine.”

Arthur looked around, to find the bodies gone. It looked like a meadow and he took a step away from George, looking back to find he’d disappeared. Fear was replaced with a deep lonely sadness.

_ I’m dreaming. _

The thought resonated in him, whenever he had a nightmare George always came to rescue him eventually. His brother wasn’t here though, not really. He sat down in the grass, pulling his legs up to his chest, waiting to wake up. It was over now. Had he gotten any rest at all? No.. 

Arthur opened his eyes, and stared up at a golden ceiling. He ran a hand over the fabric of the bed sheet, and sighed.

_ George _

He’d been thinking about him a lot. Being on this vessel without him, all the terrifying ordeals he’d been through. Arthur sat up and glanced over at the other side of the room, no bed appeared there now. Where was George? Was he...trapped like Arthur was? A shudder as he stood up and glanced at Obscura’s Loki Prime sitting in its chair, it was kind of comforting knowing someone was always watching. Maybe a little weird.

“Obscura?” he asked quietly and the frame’s head perked up.

“Yes, Arthur?” the Cephalon asked.

“I dreamed about you…” he said and smiled a little.

“Were your dreams pleasant?”

“No, it was awful…” Arthur kneeled down in front of the frame and set his head on it’s lap. He wasn’t really sure why, just seemed like something nice to do.

“Would you like to talk about it?”

“No. It’s just a bad dream.”

“You seem to have nightmares very often,” Obscura observed.

“Yeah…” Arthur breathed. “Can I ask a favor?”

“What is it you require?”

“My brother...George, I want to find him. Save him maybe, like you did for me if...he ended up like me.”

“Of course, I will begin scanning radio chatter for any mention of your brother, knowing his Warframe would also aid in the search.”

“Rhino prime, if I remember right, his is blue and orange, pretty beat up, he was never kind to his equipment,” Arthur explained.

“I will make note of that. I will compile a database of any mentions and the syndicates that made them.”

“Thank you.”

“You are welcome.”

Arthur didn’t move from his position, finding it rather soothing in an odd way. Maybe he just craved some kind of contact, he found it hard to be around people, paranoid that they were judging him. George always knew how to deal with them, was always so confident and friendly. George was always his voice.

He supposed Obscura was filling that void, the Cephalon was safe, comfortable. Arthur normally wouldn’t find it so easy to talk to someone like that. But Obscura didn’t judge him, didn’t look at him strangely, and certainly wasn’t thinking he was weird for laying his head on his lap. Obscura hadn’t even asked him about it, and Arthur found himself laughing a bit at how ridiculous this was.

“Are you alright?” Obscura asked, and Arthur stifled his giggling.

“Fine, I’m fine. I’m just laughing at myself,” Arthur replied.

“I understand, what is it you found humorous?”

Arthur pulled away from the Warframe and stood up still chuckling a little to himself. “It’s nothing really. Don’t worry about it.” He cleared his throat. “Can you braid my hair? Whenever I do it myself it turns out badly.”

“One moment, what style of braid would you prefer?”

“Oh...how many kind- never mind, uhm whatever is closest to the scalp.”

“Of course, please stand still.” 

The Cephalon was quite efficient and Arthur examined himself afterwards. “Thank you. Normally I’d have George help me. Lets...find him soon…” he said softly.

“I am currently searching,” Obscura replied. “Any information I obtain will be available on your datapad.”

“Good…”

Arthur felt satisfied with that.


	7. Tell Me A Joke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just silly. But it made me giggle so I wrote it.

Arthur was loitering on the bridge, watching information stream around Obscura as he worked through it all. It really was amazing to watch, a silly thought entered his head.

“Obscura, a moment?” he asked.

Obscura stopped collating and leaned down to face Arthur. “How may I assist you?”

“Tell me a joke,” Arthur requested.

The Cephalon tilted its head. “What kind of joke would you like me to tell?”

“Hm, tell me the oldest one you have in your archives,” Arthur requested, and settled himself backwards on his seat.

“Of course.” Obscura took a moment to access that data. “Why did the chicken cross the road?”

Arthur furrowed his brow, not sure what a chicken was. “Why?”

“To get to the other side.”

Arthur blinked, not really understanding the joke. “I’m confused, isn’t the point of crossing the road to get to the other side of it?” he asked. “And what is a chicken?”

Obscura brought up a few visuals of the fowl and explained. “A Chicken is an ancient Earth fowl, often raised for its eggs and mild flesh.” He continued with an explanation of the joke. “The witticism has a morbid double meaning, requiring an understanding of the old lexicon; ‘the other side’ was often a euphemism for death or the afterlife. Hence the chicken crossing without being aware of the dangers of an active road could lead to it’s untimely demise.”

Arthur nodded along. “I guess I just don’t get it,” he replied.

“Unfortunately, the older the joke the more context you require; this one despite its longevity is not easily understood in modern times.”

“Have you any more recent jokes?”

“Yes.”

“Lets hear one of those!”

“What do you call a Tenno without a Warframe?”

“What?”

“Unprepared.”

Arthur snorted at that, not bad. “Wow, you told that better than I expected,” he mused. 

“Thank you,”

“So that old joke, was it funny before?”

“In my records it seems as though the joke was never funny;”

“Then why did it survive this long?”

“From my understanding of humour, I believe while the joke was not funny, the continued telling created an ironic form of joke,” Obscura explained.

Arthur hummed and laughed a little. “Irony? You can find a joke funny ironically?” he asked. “So a chicken crosses a road and dies, and that becomes funny if you say it enough times?”

“This is congruent with my findings.”

“How strange.” Arthur sighed. “And how do you come to all these conclusions?”

“It is part of my design, my precepts. My purpose is for study and understanding, alongside my primary functions of protecting and indexing the archive.”

“Of course, the Orokin so lazy they can’t even think for themselves!” Arthur mused, he sighed. “You’ll have to tell me more jokes, that last one was actually quite good.”

“As you like.”


	8. Obscura's Dream Journal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur begins to keep a very unusual journal.

**5th day of the 3rd Movement.**

_“I’ve discovered a wonderful thing, while speaking with Obscura; apparently when he’s in a sort of stand-by mode he experiences random access of his memories and files via subroutines. Normally this access would be filtered through and interpreted by his higher functions, but in this mode there is no filtering. Another way to put it is Obscura has dreams! Day-dreams I suppose since he doesn’t sleep. These experiences are wiped clear during his self-diagnostic processes, so I’d like to use this journal to record them! I’ve never heard of a Cephalon day-dreaming, but then I don’t know any Cephalons as old as Obscura, either way I’d like to write them down!_

_Here’s the first dream: Looking out the windows on the Bridge of the Pythia, but instead of space outside it’s a pavilion on Lua. There is a woman sitting on a bench under a willow tree, she’s wearing light Orokin clothes and has a hood shadowing most of her face, apart from her mouth which has an enigmatic smile. The pavilion starts to fall apart, and the void rushes in. The woman doesn’t move like she’s made of stone. Then the dream ends and Obscura’s higher functions reactivate. Obscura says the woman doesn’t appear in his archives nor is anyone matching her description mentioned. She also isn’t in his personal memory, very interesting!_

**7th day of the 3rd Movement.**

_“Sometimes it’s hard to get to Obscura before he’s wiped the dream away. Today I managed it! This one was very different from the last one. I’m in it in fact. It starts out following me walking through a wrecked ship on Venus, it might be Corpus but it looked a little Grineer to me. I was running through the ship, singing some kind of Orokin tune. I eventually came to a stop in what looked like a forest clearing. There was grass and flowers growing on Venus! I apparently looked up and the sky was red, with fire for clouds. Incredible imagery. In the clearing was that woman again and Obscura calls her “The Oracle” specifically. I’m not sure why. She opened her arms, and I was wrapped up in them. Then the dream ended. I’m so curious about this woman. She’s so enigmatic. Who is she? Why is she in Obscura’s dreams?_

  
  


**11th day of the 3rd Movement.**

_“This one is strange, it’s the Pythia, from the outside. The whole thing is covered in plants. Like it’s been sitting in Earth’s forests for years. It still seems to be in space. Then it explodes, and the planet it’s next to cracks in half. Inside of it is a Condroc, it opens its wings and flies away. Then the visual zooms in on its back there’s an Orokin tower rising up. The tower is wrapped in the fiber Obscura makes his body out of. In the tallest point of the tower is that woman again. Her hood gets caught by a breeze and a braid of blond hair falls out. Still couldn’t see her full face though. The Oracle walked away from the window and disappeared into the darkness. After that Obscura reactivated. This is the third time The Oracle appeared. I now know she’s blond. I don’t know what to do with that information. I don’t know what to do with her at all._

  
  


**23rd day of the 3rd Movement.**

_“I’m getting better at catching him, but this one I nearly missed it’s very sad. I wonder if Obscura has any emotions about these dreams. No of course not, even this veritable nightmare probably didn’t affect him. The Oracle is surrounded by seven towering figures, they seem impossibly massive compared to her relatively slender figure. Where they are is an endless abyss, a platform over an infinite drop. She actually speaks in some form of Orokin, but I can’t really understand the dialect, I get bits and pieces. She’s saying they won’t listen, something about children. Then the platform falls out from beneath her, and she falls. I can almost see her face as she’s falling and her hood blows away, but nothing. The dream ends there. I’m starting to think that she has something to do with Obscura, perhaps in the past.”_

  
  


**2nd day of the 4th Movement.**

_“This one has me in it again and George! It starts with George, and he’s sitting on a rock in the Plains of the Eidolon and there are Sentients everywhere. They aren’t attacking him, just circling around him. I walk up from behind him and they part for me. He nods at me and says something with his hands. He’s saying “I’m Sorry” kind of strange. One of the Sentients come forward, and seems to open up, and there she is again The Oracle. I’m not sure if I should even be surprised that she pops up, she’s been in every single one. Even short ones. Anyway, she steps towards us, and offers her hands. We both take them and walk with her out of the circle into the Plains and then into the big lake, and we disappear under it and then the dream ends. I’ve been running Obscura through so much to find out who she is, but he doesn’t know a thing! He considers her an error in his memory, or a figment of random data. She must be real though, her appearance is consistent._

Addendum: _“I’m having Obscura look through folk legends for an “Oracle” with her description, he said it would take some time so we’ll see!”_

  
  


**12th day of the 4th Movement.**

_“No luck with the folk lore, I really thought I was onto something there, oh well. Next dream is peaceful and quiet. It’s just The Oracle sitting in a field of lilies. She’s humming Smiles from Juran. She takes off her hood, and I see her face. I don’t recognize her at all, but she has an oval face, with high cheekbones, her skin is a dusty peach color. Eyes are bright green, they feel kind, and sharp. Her blond hair is braided and held up at the back of her head in a bun. She is really quite beautiful, I wish I knew who she was. That’s the whole dream, I wonder about this Oracle, what does she mean to Obscura? Why does she appear in his dreams? How is she an Oracle?”_

  
  


**30th day of the 4th Movement.**

_“Some interesting new info, Pythia was an Oracle! The name comes from a very ancient culture, I don’t know if there’s a link there, but it’s all I’ve got. This next dream actually had Obscura in it, which is a change. Though he’s not really part of it. Obscura is observing a screen, upon which there is a group of Orokin scientists standing around a cage. They are reciting codes to whatever is in the cage, the ones I managed to catch fully were:_ _Alpha Alpha 125568 Sigma_ _and_ _7780 Gamma 432 Alpha_ _. I don’t know what they’re for, but the camera panned in to show The Oracle in the cage, holding her hands up and telling them to stop. The Scientists muttered to each other seeming disappointed by her. Very strange. None of the scientists showed their face to the camera. The dream ended after that and Obscura resumed functionality, though he seemed a little confused when he was speaking to me about it. I assume those codes may have something to do with Cephalon operation, but I can’t fathom what. This really makes me wish my father was here, or that I’d learned more from him before the incident, he worked on Cephalons his whole life, surely he’d know what all of that means.”_

  
  


**6th day of the 5th Movement.**

_“I woke up earlier than I ever had hoping to catch Obscura in the act of doing nothing. I walked in and he was staring out into space, his satellites stuck tight to him, and everything was very, very still. After a few minutes, he turned around and immediately recognized and welcomed me. I asked him about his dreams and he said nothing had occurred. That seemed very odd, but Obscura can’t lie to me so I have to take his word on it. Maybe I caught him in self-diagnostic and the dream was already gone. I don’t know, I figured I’d log this in case it was relevant later.”_

  
  


**7th day of the 5th Movement.**

_“Obscura seemed almost eager to tell me his recent dream, maybe he’d just come to expect my curiosity. I wish he didn’t delete them in the first place. This one was very dark, the Oracle was walking through corridors full of infestation. I almost found it hard to keep watching, it mirrored my own nightmares so well. The further she went the worse it got, until the walls were reaching out to grab at her. She wouldn’t stop, though I kept hoping she would. At the center of the mass there was a beating heart. It was black and ichor dripped from above. She reached forward with a ceremonial dagger and pierced the heart. It ripped open and a warframe slipped out, covered in the dark viscous liquid from inside. I felt a little queasy watching it, the detail was too much, then the Warframe stood up, from the body it looked like Excalibur, it was hard to tell the color. It turned around to face her and embedded into its head was my face! I recoiled a little, and the dream ended after that, fading into nothing. I don’t know why Obscura seemed so keen to tell me about that one, I’d almost rather not have seen it. Oh to be bereft of emotion like my Cephalon friend.”_

  
  


**17th day of the 5th Movement.**

_“I’ve seen The Oracle so many times in Obscura’s dreams, she’s starting to invade my own. I can’t stop thinking about her, especially after the last one. Obscura when he appeared in his dream was an outside observer, not a part of the world of the dream in any way. The Oracle is active, she’s the focal point for sure. I’m missing something. Something critical. If I just had a better understanding of how a Cephalon is made, surely there’s got to be a clue there. Anyway Obscura’s latest dream wasn’t nearly so horrific. It featured many Tenno all walking around on a relay, the Oracle moved among them, disappearing into the crowds then resurfacing. She seemed invisible to them, no one paid her any mind. She put her hands together and then clapped. Suddenly all of the Tenno were ejected from their warframes, all of them had perfectly defined faces. These were all real people I’m sure of that. They all looked at her finally and when she settled at the top of the stairs, they sat at the bottom. She held her hands out at either side of her and the Tenno mimicked her. They all began to sing, I couldn’t recognize the song, but it seemed to be a very old one judging by the dense old language they were singing in. The dream ended after that. Obscura ran all the faces through his database and brought up all the Tenno from the dream, he’s apparently been compiling this information for a long time. I didn’t personally know any of them. But I don’t really know anybody anyway.”_

  
  


**25th day of the 6th Movement.**

_“It’s been a while, I stopped as I was worried I was getting too close to something. The feeling came on really suddenly after a particularly intense nightmare of my own. That woman, she appeared in it, and said “Why do you seek, what you already know to be true?” I guess it really got to me. It was just a dream, I don’t know why it made me feel that way, and if I’m close to something I should seek it out. Besides they’re just random data access...Obscura’s dreams likely don’t mean anything like a human’s might. He doesn’t have stress or worries to manifest into dreams._

_This will be my last entry for a while though. I feel like I need to step back and be objective about it if I want to get anywhere._

_The dream starts off with myself, I’m walking up the stairs in a great tower made of dark stones. I don’t seem to be getting anywhere, and I look out the small windows in the walls, outside the sky is on fire. The Sentients are raining fire upon the landscape, everything is ablaze. I keep walking up the tower. A door stops me, it looks like the door to the bridge of the Pythia. It slides open and I walk inside, and The Oracle is there but her form is strange. She has the lower half of a snake, and many arms. The room we’re in is the bridge of the vessel, but all I can see out the windows is the battle. She leans down and speaks. “Precept Corruption at 87%, Reset Imminent. Life Support Failing. Mission Priority: Protect Arthur.” Myself in the dream nods to her as if understanding all of that. I then walk around her and smash all the consoles on the bridge with my bare hands._

_I know what those words mean. It’s from the time when Obscura was suffering from the fragment. They must have been internal dialog from his systems. I think I understand why Obscura doesn’t appear in his own dreams, because the Oracle_ **_is_ ** _Obscura. I don’t understand what her significance is beyond that, but I’m certain that’s what’s going on. The dream Obscura appeared in is the anomaly I wonder now why they both appeared in that one. Some sort of out of body experience perhaps. I’ve had dreams where I watch myself do things from above like it’s someone else._

_That’s my last log for now. I may never know why Obscura dreams of himself as this Oracle. Now she haunts me too, I almost wish I hadn’t started this journal, I’ve got so many questions."_


End file.
